Middle Passage (2022)

NOW STREAMING 6/16 – 6/26, 2022

Streaming schedule:
-Thursday (6/16 & 6/23): Livestream* (starts promptly at 7:30pm CDT)
– Friday (6/17 & 6/24): Livestream* (starts promptly at 7:30pm CDT)
– Saturday (6/18 & 6/25): On Demand (watch anytime between 2:00 – 11:59pm CDT)
– Sunday (6/19 & 6/26): On Demand (watch anytime between 2:00 – 11:59pm CDT)

*The livestreams will feature a LIVE chat to connect with other viewers in real time.

 

Rutherford Calhoun, a newly freed Illinois slave eking out a living in 1830 New Orleans, stows away aboard The Republic, an outbound rigger, to evade debtors enforcing marriage. But his clever escape backfires as the clipper turns out to be a slave ship bound for Africa. Calhoun must choose between a fanatical captain, a mutinous crew, and the Africans seeking escape. Building on a tradition of African American storytelling, this tale challenges perceptions of American identity using a Black aesthetic. We are at a critical historical moment in which issues such as racism, classism, poverty, and the meaning of freedom impact us all.

Making a triumphant return from the pandemic hiatus, Lifeline Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan and David Barr III revisit Johnson’s epic tale, originally mounted at Pegasus Theatre in 2016 under the title Rutherford’s Travels, to share a tale of personal growth within a dark phase of American history. Of Middle Passage, the Chicago Tribune said, “Long after we’d stopped believing in the great American novel, along comes a spellbinding adventure story that may be just that.”

Based on the novel by Charles Johnson
Adapted by Ilesa Duncan & David Barr III
Directed by Ilesa Duncan

Special Performances:

Open Captioning
Saturday, May 7 at 4pm
Friday, May 27 at 7:30pm

Audio Description and Touch Tour
Sunday, May 22
   Touch tour: 2:30pm
   Performance: 4pm

Visit our Accessibility page for more information.

  • Shelby Lynn Bias (Isadora Bailey/Ensemble)

    Shelby is thrilled to be returning to Lifeline Theatre’s production of Middle Passage. She is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland located in Glasgow, United Kingdom. UK credits include: Elizabeth Sawyer in The Witch of Edmonton (RCS), Janine in Scorched (RCS), Amiens in As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe, Education) as well as Phoebe in As You Like It (Bard in the Botanics). Previous Chicago credits include: Helena/Titania u/s in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Eleanor in Northanger Abbey (Lifeline Theatre) as well as roles in shows and workshops around the city. She is represented by 10 Talent Management.

  • Patrick Blashill (Captain Falcon/Ensemble)

    Patrick has been an ensemble member of Lifeline since 1996 and has performed in roughly 30 productions in that time.  Some favorites include: Towny in Midnight Cowboy, Ferdinand in The Story of Ferdinand, Frodo in The Two Towers and Return of the King, Tom in Pistols for Two, Edgar Drake in The Piano Tuner, and Captain Falcon in Middle Passage. Other Chicago credits include: Long Days Journey into Night (Eclipse), May the Road Rise Up (Factory), a number (Backstage), Eurydice (Filament), and Emma (Reverie).  Patrick has also appeared on Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, and Empire and is appearing in the soon to be released film Visiting Friends. Patrick is represented by the Gray Talent Group.

  • Ajax Dontavius (Rutherford Calhoun)

    Ajax is a Chicago-based actor who is thrilled to be joining the cast of Lifeline’s adaptation of Middle Passage as his Chicago theater debut. Previously, Ajax has co-starred on NBC’s Chicago P.D. and will appear on the second season of AMC’s 61st Street. Ajax would love to thank God for this amazing opportunity; his beautiful wife, Delaney for her undying support and love, the Gray Talent team, and last but not least, his incredible Mom and family. Proverbs 3:5.  www.ajaxdontavius.com

  • Linsey Falls (Papa Zerinque/Fletcher/Ensemble)

    Linsey returns to Lifeline where he has been seen in Lyle Finds his Mother, the national tour of The One and Only Ivan and The Man who was Thursday. Other recent credits include Upon this Shore: A Tale of Pericles and the Daughter of Tyre (Idle Muse Theatre Company), The Magic City (Manual Cinema) and the weekly That’s Weird, Grandma! (Playmakers Laboratory Theater, FKA Barrel of Monkeys).

  • Benjamin Jenkins (Santos/Diamelo)

    Benjamin is excited to be working with Lifeline for the first time.  Other credits include: Fireflies (Northlight Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Haven Theatre), Master Comic, By Association, Feral (MPAACT), Choir Boy, and Not About Nightingales (Raven Theatre).  Benjamin attended the Florida State University BFA Acting program.

  • Monty Kane (Jackson/Ngonyama)

    Monty makes his Lifeline Theatre debut! He was born and raised in Milwaukee Wisconsin where he earned his Bachelors degree in Theatre Arts at Cardinal Stritch University. In college, he appeared in 16 stage plays as 6 leading roles, including musicals and children’s shows. Monty wants to thank Lifeline for this pleasant opportunity to be a part of such an important play. He also sends a special thanks to those who are in attendance to support the Arts.

  • Robert Koon (Josiah Squibb/Ensemble)

    Robert is happy to be finally be working with the good people at Lifeline. He was recently seen as The Player King in Hamlet (Invictus Theatre). He is an ensemble member with Broken Nose Theatre where he appeared in Labyrinth and Human Terrain. Other recent credits include: Casa Valentina (Pride Films and Plays), A Dickens Carol (Madison Street Theatre), Fun Harmless Warmachine (The New Coordinates), Pillars of the Community (Strawdog), The Woman in Black (Wildclaw Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (Oak Park Festival Theatre), and Chagrin Falls for The Agency (Jeff nomination). Robert is a Resident Playwright alumnus at Chicago Dramatists and his plays include the Jeff-nominated Odin’s Horse and Vintage Red and the Dust of the Road (Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Love to JM and Dr. K.

  • MarieAnge Louis-Jean (Baleka/Allmuseri God)

    MarieAnge is an ascending actor, dancer & writer, excited to make their debut with Lifeline Theatre for this year’s production of Middle Passage. Louis-Jean is currently thriving in their art with Gill Talent Agency. Recent Chicago theatre credits include: 15 Minutes, Have Faith, and The Little Things (Young Playwrights Festival 35), & Sankofa (SLT).

  • Kellen Robinson (Tom/Meadows)

    Kellen is so excited to make her Lifeline Theatre debut! Select theatre credits include: Sally Bowles – Cabaret (Dunes Theatre), Morwyn/Naomi – Non-Player Character (Red Theatre), Antonia – Bliss: or Emily Post is Dead (Promethean Theatre), and Cercei – Fight Quest: GoT (Otherworld). She’s also worked with Raven Theatre, Court Theatre, and regionally at the Civic Theatre and IRT – among many others. In addition to acting, Kellen works in stunts and as a violence choreographer for stage and screen. When not in rehearsal, you can find Kellen zooming along the lakefront trail on her rollerblades! KellenRobinson.com @kellenmarier

  • Christopher Vizurraga (Peter Cringle/Rev. Chandler)

    Christopher joined the Lifeline Ensemble in 2021. Previous Lifeline credits include: Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Miss Buncle’s Book, Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters, Giggle, Giggle, Quack (2019 Tour), and the virtual productions of Click, Clack, Moo and Sense & Sensibility.  Regional credits include: Illinois Shakespeare Festival (A Midsummer Night’s Dream & I <3 Juliet), First Folio Theatre (Captain Blood & Women in Jeopardy), Milwaukee Repertory Theater (Ragtime, Noises Off, A Christmas Carol & The History of Invulnerability).  Other Chicago credits include: Chicago Shakespeare (A Q Brothers’ Christmas Carol), Court Theater (One Man, Two Guvnors), Remy Bumppo (Pirandello’s Henry IV), Haven Theater (Titus Andronicus), and Metropolis Performing Arts (The Drowsy Chaperone).

  • Gerrit Wilford (McGaffin/Quakenbush)

    Gerrit (he/him/his) is thrilled to be making his Chicago theatre debut with Lifeline!  Some past credits include Sam/Ensemble u/s in The Secret Council (First Folio), Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks), Gratiano in Othello, Milky White/Baker u/s in Into the Woods, and The Goat Scout Leader in The Girl Who Cried Throgmonster (Texas Shakespeare Festival).  Gerrit is a proud graduate of the University of Idaho.  He would like to thank his family and his amazing fiancée for their constant support.

  • Jonathan Allsop (U/S Papa Zerinque/Santos)

    Jonathan Samuel Allsop is a Chicago based actor/singer. He recently received his MFA in Acting from Northern Illinois University and has also received his BA in Music from the University of Pennsylvania. Some of his theatre credits include: White (Definition Theatre), Hit The Wall (Northern Illinois University), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival), Caroline or Change (Firebrand Theatre), Concrete Jungle (Goodly Frame Theatre), Tarzan (NightBlue Theatre), Human Resource(s) (Theatre Evolve), Pirates of Penzance (Savoyaires), A Bright New Boise (Northern Illinois University). He also performs with music improv group “Baby Wants Candy” at the Second City. Jonathan is a singer/songwriter and his debut album, Lavender Therapyis available on all streaming platforms. Jonathan is represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent.

  • Andrew Bosworth (U/S Josiah Squibb/Ensemble)

    Andrew is thrilled to be back to finish what we started in 2020.  Since then, he has begun teacher certification with the International Demidov Association, and read Ulysses.  He has his MFA from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in Sarasota, FL.  He spends his days as a barista and loves to talk shop.

  • Sam Fain (U/S Captain Falcon/Ensemble)

    Sam (he/him) is thrilled to be working at Lifeline for the first time. He made his Chicago debut as John F. Kennedy in Interview: JFK for the Civil Rights Theatre Project in 2013. Other favorite Chciago work includes Fault Lines (Broken Road Theatre), Standing In Mattoon (Leaving Iowa Productions), Today We Escape (Tympanic Theatre), and Lewis/Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (Theatre Hikes). Prior to relocating to Chicago, Sam worked in Indianapolis where he was seen in the Midwest premiere of Seminar as “Martin” for the Phoenix Theatre, numerous productions at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, as well as Closer (No Exit Theatre), A Steady Rain (Acting Up Productions), Two Rooms (Acting Up Productions), and Of Mice and Men (Indianapolis Civic Theatre). He has worked extensively with the Indiana Shakespeare Company where he is also a Company Member Emeritus.

  • Peter Gertas (U/S Cringle/Chandler/McGaffin/Quakenbush)

  • Mary Heyl (U/S Tom/Ensemble)

    Mary is so excited to be part of her first Lifeline production! A St. Louis native, Mary grew up in the Midwest and is grateful for the opportunity to bring live theatre back to Rogers Park. Recent credits include: Woman 3 in My Way, and Dr. Watson (u/s) in Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (Metropolis PAC). Posthumus/Cloten in Cymbeline (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival) and Cassio in Othello (Festival 56). She would like to thank Andrés and Ilesa for this opportunity and sends love to her friends and family. 2 Corinthians 4:16.

  • CN Mason (U/S Isadora)

    Candice (CN) is a proud native of the California Bay Area who is happy to be joining Lifeline for her Chicago debut. Recently signed to 10 MGMT Agency, she is looking forward to cultivating community and giving life to stories of the global majority on both the stage and film. When not acting you can find her being an educator.

  • Stewart Romeo (U/S Rutherford/Jackson/Ngonyama)

  • David Barr III (Co-Adaptor)

    David is the author of several published works for the stage including Death Of The Black JesusEv’ry Time I Feel The SpiritThe Face Of Emmett Till (Dramatic Publishing), and Black Caesar (PerformInk). His stage works around Chicagoland have been produced at Goodman Theatre, Pegasus Theatre, Chicago Theatre Company, Black Ensemble Theatre. Nationally, his plays have been produced in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Buffalo, Louisville, and New Orleans. He is a three time recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Playwriting, a two time winner of the National Play Award sponsored by Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City (1995 and 2000), recipient of the 2000 Festival Of Emerging American Theatre (FEAT) National Playwriting Award, winner of the 1998 Theodore Ward Playwriting Award, the 2000 recipient of the Donahue-Tremaine Trust Award for excellence in playwriting, co-winner of the first annual David Ofner Prize (2000), the 1998 Edgar Award for Best Play from Mystery Writers Of America, and the winner of the 1993 Mixed Blood Versus America National Playwriting Contest.

  • ILesa Duncan (Director/Co-Adaptor)

    ILesa became Lifeline’s Artistic Director and joined the ensemble in January 2019, where she directed Neverwhere (Jeff Recommended 2018), and Blue Shadow (KidSeries). A producer, director, writer, educator and theater-maker, Ilesa is an avid collaborator on new work. Other directing credits include Eclipsed (Jeff Recommended), Shakin’ The Mess Outta Misery (Jeff Nominated), Rutherford’s Travels (Jeff Nominated, co-adapter), The Green BookFor Her as a Piano, and Blacula: Young, Black & Undead at Pegasus Theatre; Broken Fences at 16th Street Theater; The Nativity (Congo Square; Jeff nominated); and the Jeff Award-winning Jar the Floor at ETA Creative Arts. Ilesa has also worked with The Goodman, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Stage Left, and Chicago Dramatists, as well as Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio), The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (Washington DC), and Lincoln Center Theater (New York). As an educator, Ilesa has led youth development and arts education programs in Chicago for over thirteen years. She is a past awardee of an NEA/TCG Directing fellowship and a 3Arts Ragdale Fellowship. She is member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Director’s Lab and the Chicago Director’s Lab, and is an associate artist with Chicago Dramatists

  • Rae Segbawu (Stage Manager)

  • Amelia Ablan (Production Manager)

  • Noah Abrams (Master Electrician)

  • Kyle Bajor (Co-Lighting Designer)

  • Barry Bennett (Sound Designer)

    Barry is a Jeff nominated maker of theatrical music and sound with over 40 world premieres, a multitude of albums under his own name (BarryBennettSounds) and as a band leader — with the seminal trance outfit, MiLkBabY and the art rock group he currently leads, GRAPE JUICE PLUS. He is also the director of the improvisational modern dance music mash up, Impending Behavior Orchestra.  Chicagoland theatre credits include work with:  The Goodman, Victory Gardens, 16th Street Theater (former resident composer), Winifed Haun & Dancers (artistic associate), Lifeline, Chicago Dramatists (former associate artist), Mordine and Company, Something Marvelous, Writers’ Theatre, The Aardvark, Steppenwolf, The Art Institute, Emerald City, National Pastime, Cindy Brandle Dance Company, PROP THTR, Chicago Moving Company (former composer in residence), Estrogen Fest, Asimina Chremos, Breakbone Dance, and others.  More at www.barrybennett.bandcamp.com

  • Connor Blackwood (Associate Sound Designer)

  • Alan Donahue (Scenic & Properties Designer)

    Alan adds to his nautical resume, having previously designed the Lifeline productions of Treasure Island (2009) and Around the World in 80 Days (2002). Other seaboard designs include Rupert’s Swashbuckling Adventure (2019) at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo; Anything Goes (1992) at the Drury Lane South;  and Transit! (1983), a Panama Canal oil tanker musical —I kid you not!—at Texas A&M University. Over the pandemic he designed scenery for a new musical revue, Prime Country, at Dollywood. It, however, was definitely landlocked. And, Alan is looking forward to designing Miss Holmes Returns when Lifeline is able to bring it to the stage.

  • Alex Gendal (Projections Designer)

    Alex is a Chicago-based Projection Designer and Creative Technologist, and is exited to set sail with Middle Passage again! He graduated from Purchase College Conservatory of Theatre Arts with a BFA in Theatre Design/Technology, and the University of Texas at Austin with an MFA in Integrated Media for Live Performance. Alex’s design experience covers a range of Contemporary and Middle Eastern dance, musicals, and dramas. His design credits include: Love and Information (Madden Theatre, IL), What A Wonderful World (Timber Lake Playhouse, IL), Middle Passage (Lifeline Theatre, IL), It’s Your Funeral (Laboratory Theatre, TX), Eugene Onegin (McCullough Theatre, TX), SHOULDERS (B. Iden Payne Theatre, TX), Anon(ymous) (Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, TX), Into The Woods (Fisher Theatre, NH), The Laramie Project (Fisher Theatre, NH), and Belly Dance Masters (Double Tree, FL).  alexjgendal.com

  • Galen Hughes (Asst. Stage Manager)

  • Elise Kauzlaric (Dialect Coach)

    Elise has been a member of Lifeline’s artistic ensemble since 2005 and has coached numerous productions (The Killer Angels, The Moonstone, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Mark of Zorro, The Piano Tuner, et al). She has also coached for Steppenwolf, Marriott Theatre, TimeLine, Irish Theatre of Chicago, Griffin Theatre, the Hypocrites and others. Twice nominated for Non-Equity Jeff Awards for her dialect work (Busman’s Honeymoon at Lifeline and Punk Rock at Griffin), she also directs and acts around town and has received N.E. Jeff nominations for her direction of Northanger Abbey and Mariette in Ecstasy (Lifeline) as well as a Supporting Actress nomination for her work in On the Shore of the Wide World (Griffin). Elise also teaches at CCPA at Roosevelt University.

  • Harrison Ornelas (Technical Director)

  • R&D Choreography (Violence Designers)

    R&D Choreography is a Chicago-based violence design company comprising partners Victor Bayona (he/him) and Rick Gilbert (he/him). We are happy as sailors soaked in Nelson’s Blood to be working at Lifeline once again! R&D was founded in 1997 for the purpose of improving the power and effectiveness of Chicago area theatre through the art of violence design –choreographing better fights for better shows.  We have designed violence and/or intimacy for over three hundred productions and films. Our work has been seen at dozens of Chicago area theatres, including 16th Street, Chimera, Factory, Goodman, Haven, Handbag, Lookingglass, Oak Park Festival, Pride Films and Plays, The Paramount, Piven, Steep, Strawdog, and Theo Ubique.

  • Maren Robinson (Dramaturg)

    Maren is pleased to be working with Ilesa Duncan again after having been dramaturg for both productions of Neverwhere.   As an ensemble member, she has also served as dramaturg at for EmmaNorthanger AbbeyPride and PrejudiceThe MoonstoneHungerThe Woman in White, and Miss Holmes. She also has worked in Chicago with Court, Strawdog, Eclipse, Caffeine, Greasy Joan and Camenae theaters. Maren is also a company member and resident dramaturg at TimeLine Theatre where she has been dramaturg for over thirty plays.  She holds a MA in Humanities from the University of Chicago. She is an instructor at The Theatre School at DePaul and Associate Director of the Master of Arts Program in Humanities at the University of Chicago. Maren is the Chicago VP of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

  • Nicole Clark Springer (Choreographer/Movement Designer)

    Nicole began formal training under the guidance of Claudette Soltis (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Joliet Ballet Society) and the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre. She received her B.S. in Arts Administration-Dance from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1998, Clarke-Springer joined Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre under the direction of Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott. After becoming Dance Education Director in 2011, Nicole joined Jeff and Abbott as Artistic Team Member in 2013. She has set ballets on Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Collage Dance Collective (Memphis, TN), Flatfoot Dance Company (South Africa), as well as toured Turkey, South African and Bulgaria, worked with Congo Square, Black Ensemble Theater, Pegasus Theater and choreographed the opening number for the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Show-Halloween Celebration.  Nicole teaches and choreographs throughout the country and has been on faculty as Adjunct Professor with Chicago State University, Western Kentucky University, and currently Northwestern University.

  • Scott Tobin (Co-Lighting Designer)

    Scott is a Chicago-based lighting designer working in theatre, architecture, and art exhibitions. He is excited and honored to be returning to the 2022 production of Middle Passage with Lifeline Theatre. Previous productions include: Middle Passage (Lifeline Theatre—Jeff nominated for Best Lighting Design), Se Son Rose, Fioriranno (salonLB.), Brooklyn Bridge (The Theatre School). Scott is a graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University and was the 2019 recipient of the Michael Merritt Academic Award for Collaborative Design. For more information, visit scotttobindesign.com.

  • Shawn Wallace (Composer/Music Director)

  • Anna Wooden (Costume Designer)

    Anna specializes in costume design while also working in scenic, puppetry, sculpture, illustration, and fabrication. She’s drawn to lyrical writing, inventive storytelling, fluid collaboration, and the discovery of building the perfect world for each story. She is co-owner of the craft company Caftiga Ltd, an artistic associate of Cloudgate Theatre, and an adjunct teaching artist at DePaul University. Favorite credits include Pinnochio at The House Theater, Footloose with Marriott Lincolnshire, Second Skin with Cloudgate, and The Man who was Thursday with Lifeline Theatre (Jeff nomination.)  annawoodendesign@gmail.com

From the Chicago Theatre Review
‘An Episodic and Doomed Voyage’
April 26, 2022
By Colin Douglas
RECOMMENDED
Returning to the Lifeline Theatre for its 39th season, after the pandemic shut down the world, is like coming home again to old friends. This is a special place where adaptations of great literature for both young and old comes alive. For Lifeline’s reopening we resume our 2020 voyage on their much-acclaimed production about a dark chapter in American history. Winning the 1990 National Book Award for Fiction, Dr. Charles R. Johnson’s novel is a sprawling, two-and-a-half hour dramatic saga about a young man, a freed African-American, who comes to understand firsthand the horrors of the slave trade. Co-adapted for Lifeline Theatre by Ilesa Duncan and David Barr III, this maritime adventure is a tale of self-discovery and growth, detailing a young African-American’s journey toward maturity.

After leaving his native Illinois, cocky Rutherford Calhoun heads to New Orleans, where he intends to sow his wild oats amidst the decadence of the Big Easy. After arriving, he meets an enchanting, but prim and proper young schoolteacher named Isadora Bailey. Calhoun charms the young lady, but Miss Bailey isn’t easily wooed by Rutherford’s sweet talk. She wants a commitment, so Isadora tries to blackmail Calhoun into marrying her if she’ll pay off his debts. To avoid the confinements of marriage, Rutherford stows aboard a sailing ship. What he doesn’t realize is that the Republic is a slave ship bound for the African coast on its mission to capture dozens of men, women and children who’ll be ripped from their homeland and sold into bondage.

Rutherford befriends affable, heavy-drinking Josiah Squibb and becomes his galley assistant,. He also comes to like and deeply respect the Republic’s honorable and trustworthy First Mate, Peter Cringle. But, like the rest of the crew, Calhoun fears the ship’s tyrannical captain, Ebenezer Falcon, despite being taken into the brutal autocrat’s confidence and becoming his eyes and ears above deck. Dr. Johnson’s story takes the audience on a complicated, episodic and doomed voyage to the west coast of Africa, and beyond.

Along the way, Rutherford must overcome a number of challenges. Calhoun learns to balance an edgy relationship with the lunatic ship captain with a dissenting crew who continually threaten to mutiny. He also crushes all the fear and hatred thrust upon him by the Allmuseri captives, who are chained below deck. The valiant young man manages to survive a violent storm at sea that kills most of his shipmates and destroys the ship. Rutherford is eventually rescued by another ship and, upon returning to New Orleans, he finds Isadora and his creditor, Papa Zeringue. Following so many months of danger, Calhoun has learned empathy. His compassion for his fellow man and the importance of settling down to a wife and family finally become his life goal. Ultimately, Rutherford Calhoun’s story ends happily.

This theatrical adaptation is one of Lifeline Theatre’s more ambitious and complicated dramas. Kudos to director and co-adaptor Ilesa Duncan for keeping all her ducks in a row and helping the audience to navigate this difficult, labyrinthine tale of the high seas. Johnson’s story is complicated, but captivating and unique, especially with its African-American hero. The play presents a seldom-seen, sometimes misunderstood dark chapter in American history. The production is beautifully enhanced by a host of gifted, unseen talent. This includes a magnificent, impressively functional scenic design, by Alan Donahue; a palette of ever-changing, mood-enhancing lighting, co-created by Kyle Bajor and Scott Tobin; sound and music designs by Barry Bennett and Shawn Wallace, respectively; and some incredible, moving projections, that bring the rolling waves and furious storm into this intimate venue, designed by Alex Gendal. Anna Wooden’s authentic period costumes put the icing on the cake. This is an incredible technical achievement for this literary-inspired theatre company.

The eleven talented, flexible actors who bring this story to life have got to be some of the hardest-working performers around. All the performances are solid and well-executed. As Rutherford Calhoun, charismatic actor Ajax Dontavius is terrific full of energy. Sometimes, however, the actor’s enthusiasm makes it difficult to understand what he’s saying. He needs to slow down and remember that he’s telling a story that’s new and unfamiliar. Seldom if ever leaving the stage, Mr. Dontavius is the heart and soul of this epic story, taking the audience along with him on his journey of self-discovery and personal growth. We come to identify with Rutherford Calhoun’s odyssey toward enlightenment.

He’s aided by a cast of excellent supporting actors. Robert Koon is funny and often touching as Josiah Squibb; the always impressive Christopher Vizurraga brings sobriety, class and stature to his portrayal of First Mate, Peter Cringle; Patrick Blashill is forceful and fearsome, returning once again to play Captain Falcon. Gerrit Wilford, as McGaffin, lends his combat skills to the action and a powerful singing voice to the melodic sea shanties that help create atmosphere; Shelby Lynn Bias once again makes a sweetly sophisticated Isadora Bailey; Kellen Robinson displays strength and versatility playing Tom, the cabin boy; Linsey Falls is filled with ominous strength, as Papa Benjamin Jenkins makes a threatening character in Santos; Monty Kane portrays intelligence and is wonderfully commanding, as both Jackson and Ngonyama; and MarieAnge Louis-Jean makes and innocent and touching little Baleka. All of the actors double and triple as the townspeople, the ship’s crew and/or the African captives, making this cast so impressive.

This adaptation of Charles Johnson’s award-winning epic historical novel of the sea is a bit too long and could use some judicious trimming. But the story is a perfect offering for this literary-based company. The play is an intricate, episodic tale of a young man’s journey toward maturity that requires careful attention by the audience. Lifeline Theatre’s brilliant cast and crew, under the tight direction of Ilesa Duncan, work diligently to make this chapter of history come alive. Together they bring this unbelievable adventure to the stage with polish and panache. For the savvy theatergoer, however, despite the length of the play, the journey toward discovery is worthwhile.

 

From Splash Magazine
‘A Multi-Layered Epic Adventure’
April 28, 2022
By Fran Zell
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Like the celebrated novel it is based on, Middle Passage which opened this week at Chicago’s Lifeline Theatre, is a multi-layered epic adventure that questions the meaning of freedom and the way we live together. Building on the tradition of African American storytelling, the play—like the book, written by MacArthur Fellow Charles Johnson—addresses racism, classicism, and poverty, issues that are as critical now as they were nearly two centuries ago in the slave-stained era in which the story takes place.

This is a powerful and imaginative production, directed by Ilesa Duncan, who co-wrote the adaptation with David Barr III. Duncan and Barr won a Jeff nomination for their adaptation back in 2016 when the play premiered with Pegasus Theatre Chicago, then titled Rutherford’s Travels. As Middle Passage, it had a truncated production with Lifeline in 2020 due to Covid lock downs, and is now up and running with full force and a slick set design that can connote the excitement of a full-rigged ship at sea.

The story centers Rutherford Calhoun (Ajax Dontavius), a young, newly freed slave from Illinois. He leads us through a world of corruption and cruelty beginning in 1830 New Orleans, where his new life is good until it isn’t. Unable to find work, he runs afoul of gambling den creditors despite his self-proclaimed propensity for stealing. He is a rogue, but a charming rogue, and easily forgivable, especially in light of the much greater, state-sanctioned crimes being committed all around him.

Isadora Bailey (Shelby Lynn Bias) is a high-minded schoolteacher from a Boston family freed from slavery for generations. She loves Rutherford , but wants to gentrify him, and can’t accept that he doesn’t love her. She schemes to keep him out of prison by paying his debts, but only if he marries her and so the creditors prepare to carry Calhoun to the altar.

Rutherford sees that option as another prison sentence and escapes on the first ship out of town, the Republic, unaware that it is a slave ship “My God,” he exclaims the first time he witnesses the savagery with which captive men, women and children are treated on board. “How can I go on after witnessing this?”

This is perhaps the central question of the play as originally posed in Johnson’s National Book Award winning and bestselling novel. First published in 1990, the book brought attention to barbaric practices on slave ships during the part of the journey known as the Middle Passage.

The term reflects the concept of a triangular trade route in which ships left the New World with commodities like hides, tobacco, sugar and rum, exchanged them in Europe for money and manufactured goods that were then used to purchase slaves in Africa, who were shipped to the Americas and exchanged for commodities that were once again shipped to Europe, ad infinitum repeating a process that spanned 400 years and accounted for the tortured deaths of at least two million people. That toll is roughly 10 to 20 per cent of the estimated 12.5 million people who were trafficked from Africa, all of them shackled, and stacked like so much cordwood in the dark, airless holds of the ship. Some two million more would die from horrific lives under slavery.

This historical truth provides context to a fictional tale of a hapless ship populated by the tyrannical Captain Falcon (Patrick Blashill), a mutinous crew, and a mystical clan of African captives called the Allmuseri. Rutherford can’t decide whose side he’s on, tumbling back and forth between loyalties. He’s as storm-tossed as the sea that is so ably depicted in this intimate theater space via lighting, sound, projections, and other design/production team magic.

“I don’t know who is right or wrong,” Rutherford says at a moment when it is impossible to know who is perpetrating what violence on whom. “I just want to keep everyone alive.”

Everyone doesn’t stay alive. But lessons are learned and driven home by a frightful Allmuseri deity who the Captain has smuggled on board under the delusional belief that even gods can be bought and sold.

There is so much to praise in this tightly-wound show, starting with Dontavius who plays Calhoun with just the right balance of brash energy and wide-eyed uncertainty, helping to hold all the disparate plot points together. Other noteworthy performances are delivered by Bias, Blashill, Christopher Vizurraga as Peter Cringle, the first mate who questions slavery, and Linsey Falls as Papa Zerinque, underworld boss and traitor to his own people.

 

From TotalTheater
April 26, 2022
By Mary Shen Barnidge
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Passengers traveling on ocean vessels are, literally, unmoored, rendered utterly bereft of any fixed point by which to orient themselves (unlike the illusion of equilibrium an airplane’s floor offers). When every perception, waking or sleeping, becomes unfamiliar and, therefore, fraught with possibility, those struggling for a foothold in the nebula of nature’s uncertainty can come to accept phenomena unimaginable on land—an ancient tribe of African sorcerers, for example, or a mysterious deity capable of blasting the senses of mortals.

Charles Johnson’s epic historical novel Middle Passage integrates themes from Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, Gulliver’s Travels, Heart of Darkness—virtually every nautical yarn in western literature: our story begins circa 1830 when free-Black hustler Rutherford Calhoun flees New Orleans aboard a ship preparing to cross the Atlantic, only to discover that its destination is Africa, its cargo on the return voyage comprised of captive natives to be sold as slaves and its captain indifferent to human compassion for all living creatures, including his own crew. When good and bad, right and wrong, friend and foe swirl together like the ever-shifting sea, where is a person to anchor his allegiance?

Ilesa Duncan and David Barr III have put the recent two-year suspension to good use, paring away extraneous text in this third-time adaptation (the first appearing in 2016, and the second just before the theaters closed in 2020) to facilitate the action progressing at swifter velocity. To be sure, this concession to audiences of short attention spans is not without its price in terms of the copious densely textured narrative required to encompass Johnson’s multicultural perspective, but more playgoer-friendly devices—R & D Choreography’s contrasting fight techniques employed in a brief scuffle, or the Lifeline techs’ rip-snorting storm at sea—succeed in conveying any necessary information missing from earlier drafts.

This expertise is manifested most skillfully in Shawn Wallace’s original incidental score—first introducing us to Rutherford in a spoken-word soliloquy with the refrain “I’m so glad I’m free” then later reprised in a significantly different tone reflecting the wisdom acquired by our hero’s experience.

 

From Buzz Center Stage
‘LIFELINE RESUMES RUN ‘MIDDLE PASSAGE’ EVEN BETTER THAN BEFORE’
April 29, 2022
By Bill Esler
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Lifeline Theatre has remounted ‘Middle Passage’ for its return to live production. It is every bit as good, even better, than the run cut short by the pandemic in March 2020.

But this time around I was able to to appreciate the artfulness of the script. Adapted by Ilesa Duncan (who co-directs with David Barr II) from a best-selling National Book Award winning novel by scholar Dr. Charles Johnson. Middle Passage the book is a fictional first-person narrative set in 1830 by a 20-year-old freed slave, Rutherford Calhoun (Ajax Dontavius), who makes his way from Southern Illinois to New Orleans to sow his wild oats.

It is an exciting show: absolutely entertaining, well-produced, extremely and well-acted. It would have been a crying shame if audiences didn’t get another chance to see the inventive staging, a realistic ship’s deck crammed into Lifeline’s compact quarters at 6912 N. Glenwood in Chicago. It runs through June 5 so don’t miss it.

Entertaining as it is, ‘Middle Passage’ also depicts the enslavement and transport of Africa’s Allmuseri people, their inhumane treatment by a cruel ship’s captain, and plans by the captain to sell their most sacred possession, a statue of a living god kept stowed with the slaves below. How do these opposites co-exist in one play? Sadly, just as they do in daily life.

Ajax Dontavius as Rutherford Calhoun carries the weight of the show, onstage nearly every minute, and he acquits hiimself exceptionally well as the wandering young man. Like a 19th century literary character (think Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon), the script recounting his experiences from Calhoun’s first-person point of view. As the good and bad pass before his eyes during his adventures, he makes frequent asides to speak directly to the audience—really very Shakespearean, with some of these in metered rhyme. As in life the lighthearted moments and the tragic co-exist, and at first, Calhoun drifts through them all, witnessing but unaffected.

Calhoun is on the make in New Orleans, and without means – courting young ladies, but also running up debts. This comes to the notice of Papa Zeringue (Lynsey Falls is excellent), a Creole mob boss holding 50,000 francs in Calhoun’s promissory notes. Papa Zeringue tells Calhoun he must pay, or he will be thrown into the deeps of the Mississippi.

Thankfully for Calhoun, he has won the heart of the chaste school marm, Isadora (Shelby Lynn Bias is superb in the role), a very refined young Black schoolteacher from Boston, whose family has been free four generations. Isadora has some savings, and unbeknownst to Calhoun, negotiates to pay his debts to Papa Zeringue, on the condition Calhoun is forced to marry her.

Calhoun is not interested in marriage, and so escapes by stowing aboard the ship Republic. Discovered days after it puts out to sea, he joins the crew, but soon learns the Republic is an illegal slaver, on its way to Africa to pick up human cargo. And with that, the story opens to an exciting, rollicking seafaring tale with all the trappings—storms, cannon fire, mutiny, betrayals, culminating in a shipwreck following a slave rebellion. Here as my companion noted the blocking is remarkable, the tiny stage presenting a shipp tossed on the sea, conveyed by the carefully orchestrated movements of the crew and cargo tossed to and fro.

Calhoun is there for selfish reasons – “Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I’ve come to learn, is women” – as one character puts it. As an “everyman” character, we watch Calhoun try to avoid dirtying his hands in a mutiny, and later negotiating with the slaves who seize the ship. But Calhoun changes through his experience, befriending the slaves and shifting from aloof observer to their advocate. convincing the slaves to spare the helmsman who alone can guide them back to their homeland. Calhoun develops his moral compass through the trials, and as my companion suggests, is like the hero in the tale of Gilgamesh, back where he started as the boat finally returns to port in New Orleans, but a changed man, and a beautiful resolution of the series of plot points follows.

In addition to Baily and Dontavius, the cast is uniformly good – really good – and most play multiple ensemble roles, as well as their principle character: Hunter Bryant (Calhoun’s brother Jackson), also, notably plays the role of a young slave learning English who bonds with Calhoun. All the players are good: Patrick Blashill (Captain Falcon) and Christopher Vizurraga (Peter Cringle); Benjamin Jenkins (Santos), Monty Kane (Jackson/Ngonyama), Robert Koon (Josiah Squibb), MarieAnge Louis-Jean (Baleka), Kellen Robinson (Tom), and Gerrit Wilford (McGaffin).

The production team are also stars, kudos to Alan Donahue (Scenic and Properties Designer), Elise Kauzlaric (Dialect Coach), Maren Robinson (Dramaturg); Amelia Ablan (Production Manager), Noah Abrams (Master Electrician), Kyle Bajor (Co-Lighting Designer),, Barry Bennett (Sound Designer), Connor Blackwood (Assoc. Sound Designer), Alex Gendal (Projections Designer), Galen Hughes (Asst. Stage Manager), Harrison Ornelas (Technical Director), Nicole Clark Springer (Choreographer/Movement Designer), Mattie Switzer (Stage Manager), Scott Tobin (Co-Lighting Designer), Shawn Wallace (Composer/Music Director), and Anna Wooden (Costume Designer).

Alan Donahue’s is a lovingly crafted sailing vessel with multiple decks, stowage, working winch, mast and beam – all integrated to the projection design and sound design makes us feel for all the world we are at sea, particularly during storms and battles.

The play originated at Pegasus Players in 2016 as ‘Rutherford’s Travels.’ But this version seems very strongly rooted in African storytelling culture, which taps a type of magical realism, to my mind (like Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad). Its title is far more resonant today: Middle Passage, the slave shipping route that represents the crucible of emotional and spiritual transformation from free, cultured Africans to impoverished American slaves.

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